Lessons From Oil’s Black Friday

Long before it referred to consumers storming through shopping malls, “Black Friday” stood for a dire day in the financial markets. On Friday, Sept. 24, 1869, an attempt by mogul Jay Gould and his cronies to corner the gold market failed and the price of gold fell 18% in 56 minutes—sending many small speculators to their ruin.

At the end of last week, the commodities market had a Black Friday that harked back to that devastation of 145 years earlier.